Nestling in

My urge to hibernate and nestle under quilts has reached critical mass in the last week or so, triggered perhaps by gargantuan to do lists and the dreary weather. I worry about my urge to bake batches of biscuits and munch them in a textile-lined cave whilst watching re-runs of Ray Mears Bushcraft.The #making_winter feed over on Instagram has become a place that induces sighs of relief as the beautiful pictures scroll by – this and the biscuits and nestling are helping me through. People have been adding their creative, cosy images of seasonal craft and the ways in which they’ve been cheering those days with incessant grey rain. Pictures of woodpiles, crocheted garlands, homemade advent calendars, brisk winter walks and perhaps most importantly, homebaked cakes and biscuits. The sheer number of soothing, comforting images over there is joyful. It was immensely tricky to choose a winner amongst the images submitted for November but this picture from @niki_atthecottage gave me an urge to jump into the photograph immediately and nestle by this woodburner. Also, the pinecones! I feel there can never be too many. Niki, please email me on emma@minniedog.co.uk to tell me your address and I’ll send you a parcel of handmade joy.

In other wintry craft related news my piece ‘Craft away winter blues’ is in the current edition of Mollie Makes magazine (Issue 61). I’ve written of the slump in levels of sunshine that occurs at this time of year and the way in which this can lower mood. Craft can replace the spring in your step, the peonies in your Insta-feed and the joie in your vivre through soothing repetitive movements, a feeling of achievement and aesthetic loveliness. Pop off to the newsagents/supermarket if you fancy a read.

To accompany my article Mollie Makes is joining in with the #makingwinter Twitter hour tomorrow evening between 8 & 9pm. They’ll be inviting people to share their stories of craft helping them to banish winter blues, suggesting seasonal projects to try and will be on the look out for beautiful seasonal designs (there’s a chance their favourites may be chosen for future Mollie features. The Mollie Makes team have blogged about it here.

If you’re a tweeter and fancy joining in then it would be lovely to have you along. Share an image of your cheering wintry creative doings, add the hashtag and click on it to see a whole stream of wonder make of yarn, twigs, paper, sponge and fabric.

Finally HUGE thanks for the contributions to the December bloghop so far. They’re truly beautiful and make the inspiring, creative stash of recipes and craft ideas to call on in the coming months even more wonderful. Do link up your blogpost if you’ve been making to distract yourself from your horrifying to do list or the vile muddy weather or simply needed a brief handmade break from all the shopping.